Chapter One: A simple run for supplies
"The fuck is that?" Lacey called over to Christi, who was crouching against the corner of the large brick apartment building, she was hesitantly peering into the street. Christi was a moderately short, Asian girl with short blackish brown hair and a pretty laid back and shy personality. She wore a black sweatshirt paired with some skinny jeans. Lacey on the other hand, was a tall girl with slightly tanned skin, she had dirty blonde hair that reached down to the middle of her back. She had it in a ponytail that day and wore a Chevy trucker cap. She was a country girl at heart, her mixed colored eyes also added some personality to her appearance, one green and one brown. Both of the girls were around the age of twenty and were very good friends from their years at college. The group had sent them on a scavenging trip that day and they were returning back to the center with two loaded bags of supplies from a nearby apartment building.
"Looks like a bag or somethin," Christi responded while examining the object in the distance, "could have supplies inside it, too many zombies around to tell," Lacey nodded and quietly attempted to walk towards the bags, "what the fuck are you doing, you're gonna get yourself killed," Christi said harshly and urgently under her breath. Lacey didn't turn back to face her, she walked slowly, making sure to not make any noise in the slightest. Her smell traveled though and a zombie caught the scent within seconds.
"Shit," Lacey mumbled before multiple other zombies caught her scent and heard the groans of the zombie walking towards her, "okay time to go," she called to Christi as she sprinted past the girl, her flannel shirt flapping from her movement. Christi automatically followed after her towards their escape rout they had made for a situation just like this. They ran through holes in fences and down musky alley ways until they made it to the front gate of the center, guns at the ready, "Okay we're back," Lacey called, severely out of breath, "open the damn doors!" the two girls looked at each other with worried expressions as the doors slowly opened, they were greeted by Guillermo, his arms were crossed tightly across his chest and two of him men stood at the ready.
"Finally you guys are back," he said before stepping towards them, "thought we lost you for a second there," Christi nodded, breath still ragged from running.
"We ran into some trouble," Lacey looked to Guillermo, hands clasping the straps of her backpack, "But I found a bag in the street."
"Yeah, you almost got us killed for that bag," Christ grumbled, Guillermo's expression turned to confusion before urging Lacey to continue.
"Well I got a good look at the bag," she paused, looking from Christi to Guillermo, "and that bag is fuckin' packed with guns," Guillermo and Christi looked at Lacey, shocked, "but there were too many zombies around so we couldn't get to them, it's a few blocks over towards Maple street, you should send a team over there to get them," Guillermo nodded, motioning two of his men over towards them.
"Take their bags," he ordered the men, they obeyed. Lacey shifted the backpack off her shoulders and handed it over to one of the men, Christi gave her backpack over as well, "you two should go rest and get some food, looks like you got quite a lot of supplies," he smiled, "good job," he nodded at them in dismissal, Lacey and Christi returned the gesture and headed into the building in silence. Once they entered they were greeted by one of the Hispanic female nurses who wore a bright smile.
"How did the run go?" she asked, looking the two over for wounds, "did you guys get hurt?"
"We're fine," Christi sighed, tucking her hands into her pockets.
"Yeah, no worries," Lacey half heartedly smiled in return.
"We got a lot of supplies thought, food and medicine," Christi added, the nurse's face lit up and quickly walked towards the two men that walked in with the bags in tow.
"Oh sure, it's no problem," Lacey mocked, "you are very welcome!" she growled as the two of them walked to their room, "we do so much for the people here and they can't even say thanks."
"Well they are giving us a place to stay," Christi commented as they approached the door to the room, Lacey automatically collapsed onto the couch and groaned loudly.
"Yeah I guess," she sighed, "it'll be nice to have those guns soon though, Guillermo will probably send a group to get them right away," Christi nodded in agreement as she slumped onto the bed, pulling the blankets towards her body.
"I think I'll take a nap, not really that hungry," she wrapped herself in the blankets and leaned against the cool wall.
"Yeah I'm kinda tired too," Lacey added, "but I'm more hungry than tired, I'll go get us some food," she stood up slowly before grabbing her sweatshirt from the dresser and walking out the door and into the hallway. On her way to the kitchen she passed a few people, waving at them as she passed and giving a small smile. Once in the kitchen she grabbed two cans of soup, "score!" Lacey said in triumph when she noticed that one was clam chowder, "I've been craving this all day," when she turned to exit she noticed Guillermo in the doorway.
"Hey," he greeted her before walking over to the cans next to her.
"Hey," she responded, moving to the side so he could access their supply.
"Just sent out a team to get that bag you were talking about," he told her as he grabbed a couple of cans and cradled them in his arms, "but it kinda gets me wondering," he casted her a sideways glance.
"What do you mean?" Lacey responded, giving a questionable expression.
"I mean who dropped those guns, someone must have dropped them you know?" his face gave a flash of worry before he returned to being calm and collective.
"I'm sure someone dropped it while being attacked, they're probably dead," Guillermo nodded his head slowly, forcing himself to believe her, "I know this place is all you have left, and you'll protect it with your life," she paused, thinking of something reassuring to say to him, "everything will be fine," she manages to say before slowly walking out the door.
"You're right," he says quietly before Lacey exits the room. She walked down the hallway to the room, stepping in the door quietly and settling herself on the couch. Christi was already fast asleep so Lacey decided it would be better not to wake her, sleep was hard to come by nowadays, so it was kinda an unwritten rule to never wake someone up once they're asleep. Lacey was hungry as hell though so she took out her can opener and started eating the clam chowder, even though it was cold it still tasted delicious to her. She ate in silence for a while, her mind wandering to the bag that the group was retrieving, hoping there wouldn't be any trouble. Just when she decided to put the thought to rest there was some commotion in the hallway, she put the can on the side table before quickly rushing out the door.
"What's going on?" She asked a tall black man that went by the name of Mitch, he shrugged before they saw part of the group come bursting through the doors with a guy she had never seen. She rushed over to them quickly, "who's this?" she asked the tall Hispanic man.
"Dunno," he responded, the man struggled against the grip of one of the men, "we got attacked, one of us was taken by his group, we took this Asian guy from theirs," within moments Guillermo came rushing over to them, a fierce look on his face.
"The fuck is going on?" he grunted with anger, "people are getting scared."
"We got attacked, there was this redneck guy with him, shot Rick in the butt with an arrow," he motioned to Rick, who was already being tended to by a nurse, "we captured this guy, couldn't get the guns though," he added, Guillermo looked furious at the men.
"We don't take hostages," Guillermo said sternly before walking over to talk to the Asian man directly, "you look harmless, don't think you'll be much of a problem," he motioned for the man holding him to release his grip.
"My name is Glenn," he paused, looking at all the elderly people and nurses before looking back at Guillermo, "look, I need to get back to my group."
"Well your group took one of our group, so we gotta wait till we get him back," Mark added, Guillermo gave him a questionable look.
"Who?" Guillermo said, walking over to Mark.
"The scrawny white kid," he responded quickly, Guillermo groaned and cursed.
"Dammitt," Guillermo began pacing and gripping the back of his neck, "Lacey, take care of this 'Glenn' guy," he ordered.
"Alright," she nodded and motioned Glenn to follow her, one of the men hesitantly walked after Glenn, "I'll be fine guys," she said before her and Glenn walked down the narrow hallway, they were greeted quickly by Christi who appeared groggy from sleep.
"Who's this? What's going on?" she asked quickly, her words slurring together.
"I'm Genn," he sighed, "your friends took me here, I really should get back to my group, they need me."
"Well you ain't leavin' here till Guillermo says you can," Lacey stated as they began walking back to the room.
"What is this place? There's so many old people and stuff," Glenn asked, observing the elderly being tended to as they passed multiple rooms.
"A senior citizens center," Christi answered, "when the whole zombie thing started the workers just left, some stayed to help out but not nearly enough. People come to check on their parents and grandparents, most of them see how it is here and end up staying."
"Yeah, we have a pretty good setup here, not all of us are trained but a good amount are," lacey added before they entered the room, she grabbed a can and handed it to Glenn, "you must be hungry," he took the can and looked at the two girls questionably.
"We're not going to hurt you," Christi laughed, Glenn forced himself to relax a bit as Lacey handed him the can opener. He quickly opened it and began eating with a spoon Lacey also provided.
"So tell us about your group," Lacey said as she sat down on the couch, Christi sat down on the bed and faced Glenn as he ate. Glenn looked up suspiciously.
"Why does it matter?" he asked before leaning against the door frame and continuing to eat.
"Well we've been planning on getting out of here for a while now, I stashed my motorcycle a little ways from here. We've just been waiting for an opportunity," Lacey glanced over at Christi, looking for her approval to continue, Christi motioned her to continue, "We don't really like hanging out here you know? We just feel like we're being used to gather supplies because the others can't do it as swiftly as us."
"I know how that is," Glenn laughed, "well I'm pretty sure you guys are good people," Christi nodded in agreement, "so when my group comes back to settle things maybe I can talk them into joining us, it's always good to have new people."
"You can trust us, really," Lacey said with pleading eyes, "I'm good with guns, knives, and shit like that, I have a crossbow too," Glenn looked surprised at her last statement.
"So you have a motorcycle and a crossbow? Wow," he laughed to himself.
"What's so funny?" Lacey asked, slowly getting up from the couch.
"We just have a guy that's pretty similar, it's funny," Glen answered with a smirk, Lacey sighed and sat back down.
"Well I'm sure he's damn awesome," she laughed as she grabbed her can of clam chowder and began eating it again.
"He's alright," he said between bites, "maybe you two will get along, you look hick enough."
"Well that's cool I guess, can't wait to meet him," she smiled, once finished with her clam chowder she set it aside.
"Tell us more about your group," Christi urged, Glenn laughed awkwardly before continuing.
"Well to tell you the truth we came to the city to find Daryl's brother Merle, Daryl is the hick guy I was talking about. I came with T-Dog and Rick, Rick is a police officer as well as his friend Shane," he set down his empty can on the top of the dresser, "and then they're Dale, Andrea and Amy. Oh and we have a few families too."
"Sounds like a lot of people," Christi said once Glenn had finished.
"Yeah I guess," he agreed, "Can't wait to get back," the next few hours the three of them chat and play cards, hoping that Glenn's group come to retrieve him soon.